Friday, November 23, 2007

Today At The Movies.

Thanksgiving went well and I appreciate all the good wishes I received from all of you. Thank you.

Today I went and saw the movie Enchanted and I loved it.

First off I saw ads for two more movies that registered, one I am looking forward to, the other I will probably see but will take little pleasure in.

The Golden Compass is based on the Dark Materials series which was written to counter the Christianity of The Chronicles of Narnia and the whole point of the series is that Christianity is bad and Atheism is good, in fact Philip Pullman, who wrote the book, is very hostile toward theism of any sort. (I have read a couple of interviews with him.) So far the books have not been a dynamic success (thank God) but these movies could do it.

On the other hand, when I was a teenager a very popular book was I am Legend which was about a man who believed that he was the last remaining human on earth and many of the dead had become vampires. Will Smith will be playing the last surviving human, or as he was called in the subtitle of his book The Omega Man. I am looking forward to that movie as I really liked the book when I was 15.

Enchanted was a cute movie and I enjoyed it, though of course one should not take it too seriously. It had a fairy tale ending (of course) but actually gave some serious thoughts to the issue of why relationships don't last and what we can do to make them last.

The best line in the movie was given by a woman who had been involved with a very bitter divorce from her husband, but after a brief encounter with Princess Giselle changed her mind and reconciled with her husband. Her brilliant line:

Of course we have problems. But are we going to throw away all of the good things we have because of a few problems. We need to work them out instead.

It started me thinking, and though having never been married I have seen both successful and failed marriages and can see a few things.

1) A couple needs to be similar or identical in some areas such as religious beliefs, artistic tastes, passtimes enjoyed, and have a common expectation of what their marriage should do. They also need some real differences with each on being strong where the other is weak. (Each should bring something to the marriage that the other is either weak or lacking in.)

2) They need to know before they say "I do" that fights are going to happen and difficulties are going to come. The whole idea of "happily ever after" is possible only if one understands that happiness does not require perfection or that every day be joyous. Perhaps they need to understand that the bad times are the price that is paid for the good times.

The effects were great and the movie wasn't bad. I think I'll be getting the DVD as well.

Update: Forgot the most important point I have seen in successful marriages.

3) A marriage based entirely on either common sense or "magic" is going to either fail or be unhappy. The successful and happy marriages that I have seen had both.

7 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

So which one of the Saw movies did you think was the best one?

5:56 PM  
Blogger shoprat said...

I only saw Enchanted and I enjoyed it. I saw ads for the other two.

6:14 PM  
Blogger AmPowerBlog said...

I'd rather go to Enchanted than Saw.

Have a great weekend, Shoprat!

11:18 PM  
Blogger dons_mind said...

good comments shoprat - - sue and i were talking last night about going to see Enchanted today. sounds like it's worth the trip.

i'm kinda mixed on the golden compass thing. until gayle did the article on her blog about it, i had never heard of the books or the author. i think on my next trip to borders i may pick up the book and give it a read. from the movie previews i've seen, you would not pick up on the theism thing.

but then there has always been a big hoopla about the Potter films vs the church too....

8:16 AM  
Blogger Joubert said...

I'll put Enchanted on my list.

10:38 AM  
Blogger Bloviating Zeppelin said...

About relationships: it only took me 40 years to realize that a good relationship is ALL about the WORK you apply to it.

BZ

9:00 AM  
Blogger The Vegas Art Guy said...

I showed my daughter who the author of the Golden Compass was and she lost all interest in watching the movie or reading the books. No coal in her stocking this year.

11:50 PM  

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